But at least two — Louise Sundin and Philip Krinkie — say Hightower never consulted them before making the statement.

“I don’t believe that the chairman of the board has the purview to speak in such terms,” Krinkie said.

Hightower and other trustees did not immediately respond to calls requesting comment.

A spokesman for trustee Margaret Anderson Kelliher — who is head of the Minnesota High Tech Association — said Kelliher was consulted and agrees with Hightower.

Krinkie said his objection to being included in the blanket show of support “doesn’t mean that I don’t think that [Rosenstone] has fulfilled his role and responsibilities. But he certainly also has, in my estimation, some shortcomings. And there are numerous things that he needs to alter or to work on in his administration of the system.”

Krinkie said the IFO’s letter was a concern to him, because it reflected “a growing distrust, and a growing communications gap between the administration and the faculty.”

He said Rosenstone “hasn’t properly addressed” contract negotiations with the faculty union, and said the chancellor needs to play a more personal role to “restore some trust with IFO leadership.”

Krinkie also said the chancellor needs to get a better idea of how to handle declining enrollment and high executive turnover in the system.

Sundin declined to say what she thought of Rosenstone’s performance.

Despite his critique of the chancellor, Krinkie sounded more concerned with Hightower’s statement than Rosenstone’s performance.

The former state legislator said, “I’ve served on other boards … and I’ve never seen a board that operates the way that MnSCU operates — at least during the last couple of years under Chair Hightower.”

Krinkie said the chairman has told trustees at least once not to make public statements to the news media on a given issue.

“I was appointed by the governor, confirmed by the state Senate,” Krinkie said. “I don’t answer to Chair Hightower, and I certainly don’t answer to Chancellor Rosenstone.”

About the blogger

Alex Friedrich reports on higher education issues for MPR News. Among the stories he has covered: the fall of the Berlin Wall, aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, 2003 Moscow suicide bombing and 2004 presidential elections in the Republic of Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s in European political economy from the London School of Economics.

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State Institutions need more independents to look after the public interest. Rosenstone clearly is wanting a confrontation with the faculty union and we could see problems created by him where none exist. His approach is to rile people rather than pursuing a strategy to get buy in and work on a win win strategy. Wrong man on the job.

Observer

The MNSCU System Office (the central office of the Chancellor) is srangely self-referential when it comes to a lot of things. Faculty are not the only people losing patience with this Chancellor and his central office staff – if you asked the opinion of staff at other State agencies who deal with MNSCU, you will hear much the same thing. One of the most interesting points in the faculty letter was the woefully unprofessional (shoddy) budget presentation the System Office submitted to the legislature.

Quite a few of the people working around Chancellor Rosenstone have been there for a while. Collectlively,they are a bit like Mr. Magoo. Of course when Mr. Magoo made mistakes this did not cost the State millions of dollars and rile public employees unnecessarily. Nor did it result in administrative chaos of payroll collapsing at one State university, improper layoffs at another …. etc.